Virtue helps people rise above despair and resentment
New research reveals that devotion to selfless values can help people feel more confident and less hostile in stressful circumstances. In two experiments, participants focused on their own selfless values, with most related to benefiting others. This action caused brain activity and feelings linked to personal power, which made the participants less hostile toward disliked people and worldviews. "Selfless values can be like life vests that buoy a kind of higher power and resilience, freeing us from worry and defensiveness," said Ian McGregor, professor of personality and social psychology at the University of Waterloo and the study's lead author. "Focusing on a greater good beyond themselves had the paradoxical effect of making participants' psychologically stronger and more reasonable." In both experiments the authors first reminded all participants about stressful topics-such as relationship problems and moral violations-that have typically made participants upset and defensively hostile in past research. They then gave the participants a few minutes to describe how their life goals reflected their highest values. In one of the experiments, 197 participants wore electroencephalographic (EEG) headsets that measured patterns of brain activity related to power and enthusiasm. In the second experiment, 490 participants rated how determined and enthusiastic they felt.
